Dr. Tim Patterson planted his feet on the ground next to Lexi, an 11-year-old Arabian horse. He dug his hands into Lexi’s back and pushed. Hard.

He leaned into it, looking like a frustrated rider trying to coax his stubborn mount back on the trail — or perhaps a country prankster out tipping livestock.

He changed positions, arranging his hands on Lexi’s hip. He pushed. The horse shifted one leg but held her ground, even when another horse in the stable whinnied. Patterson finished the adjustment and retrieved a plastic box from a silver SUV, the office on wheels for his practice as a holistic veterinarian.

Like the town horse doctor in Arizona’s past, Patterson makes stable calls, easing concerns for owners about how to get a sick horse in for a checkup. But unlike those frontier vets, Patterson administers decidedly non-Western remedies, turning instead to Eastern-influenced techniques such as acupuncture, homeopathy and chiropractic.

The SUV he drives from one job to another holds a mix of modern technology (a pulsed-magnetic-therapy machine) and ancient tools (acupuncture needles), but, in a sort of hat tip to the traveling vets of the Old West, fewer modern pharmaceuticals.

He hasn’t always worked this way. As a young vet, Patterson practiced medicine like most other animal doctors, charting symptoms, dispensing drugs. Then came a night 24 years ago, when an accident on a New Jersey road changed his life and his approach to treating illness.

“There are still naysayers who say this is hocus-pocus, but I think the results speak for themselves,” Patterson said.

He pulled into the Sweetwater Stables, south of Cave Creek, a little after 1 p.m. and backed his SUV up to a breezeway in the row of horse paddocks. He had driven down from his home in Payson early that day with a roster of mostly dogs in the morning and horses in the afternoon.

Magnetic bumper stickers in the shape of dog paws clung to the back end of the vehicle. Each expressed some canine wisdom: “Dogs laugh with their tails.” “The best things in life are furry.” “Some days you’re the dog ... some days you’re the hydrant.”

The mobile part of Patterson’s practice puts him among a growing number of veterinarians who make house calls, at once a modern trend and a throwback to the days when animal doctors made the rounds of farms and ranches, treating horses, cattle and other large animals.

Back then, the vet would focus mostly on farm livestock but would take care of the family dogs and cats on the same visit. These days, mobile vets pitch their services to busy pet owners.

“It’s more convenient for clients, it’s lower overhead for me,” said Patterson, who opened his mobile practice in Payson about six years ago. “And, for the most part, pets are more comfortable at home than they would be in an office.”

The Eastern-medicine part of his practice puts him among a smaller group of animal doctors, although this specialty, too, is growing across the United States. Patterson said the acceptance of alternative medicine for pets and other animals reflects the widening use of such techniques among human patients.

“Fifteen or 20 years ago, owners weren’t even willing to talk about the fact that they used acupuncture or chiropractic on their animals. We’d have to do it out behind the shed. Now, we don’t even have to advertise.”

Patterson still treats animals with conventional Western medical practices, depending on the illness and the wishes of the pet owner, “but people are starting to accept the alternatives more and more.”

“With Western medicine, you typically look more at the symptoms and treat those symptoms only,” he said. “Eastern medicine looks at the root cause and goes after that. Typically, that requires less medicine.”

Looking forward to visits

At the stables, Patterson checked his supplies and sipped from a convenience-store cup of green tea. First up today: O-Dark-Thirty, Dark for short, a 25-year-old Arabian with a history of leg-muscle injuries.

“He’s a rescue case,” said Betsy Tatlock, Dark’s owner. “I’ve had him 23 years. He was on his way to the glue factory when we got him.”

Patterson examined Dark for any obvious problems, then began chiropractic treatments. He dug into muscles and bones on the back and hips, then bent each leg at the knee, tugging until he felt the right response in his hands.

“It doesn’t take as much force as you would think,” Patterson said. “It’s not so much moving the bone, it’s more waking up the nervous system and allowing the body to move the bone back to where it should be.”

Dark allowed Patterson to work, a little restless at first but surprisingly patient given the pushing and pulling. He didn’t flinch even when Patterson inserted the first needle.

“The needles don’t cut through the tissues. They push them out of the way,” Patterson said. “The horse might be a little apprehensive the first time, but then, they get that endorphin release, and pretty soon, they look forward to my visits.”

Patterson is always aware that if he isn’t precise in his treatments, the horse could pull away or kick.

“You have to respect them but not be afraid of them,” he said. “If you’re afraid, they’ll be more apprehensive.”

After letting the needles work, Patterson removed them and brought out a green, suitcase-size box. He opened it to reveal a control panel: a red button, a green button, some dials. From the side of the box, something that resembled a white hose snaked out, ending on a loop about 18 inches across.

The pulsed-electromagnetic-field-therapy machine produces magnetic pulses that are transmitted through the loop into the body. The therapy is meant to repair injured tissues and bones, reduce swelling and ease pain.

The methods were developed in the 15th century by Paracelsus, a physician and alchemist who used lodestones and naturally magnetic rocks to treat ailments.

Physicians employed magnets to treat pain and other maladies until the middle of the 20th century, when a German scientist developed a machine that delivered pulses of magnetic energy.

The machine became popular in Europe, mostly among practitioners of alternative medicine. Homeopathic physicians brought the machine to the United States, where veterinarians began using it to treat their patients.

Patterson placed the ring on Dark, and within moments, the horse’s muscles contracted in rhythm with the ticking pulse emitted by the machine.

“You can see his head lower as he relaxes,” Patterson said. Tatlock, the owner, confirmed that her horse walked away from the sessions with Patterson calmer and quieter.

“He loves these visits,” she said.

Evolving practice

Veterinary medicine has evolved in its approach over millennia. History suggests the Chinese developed rudimentary veterinary techniques thousands of years ago, and Egyptian records include evidence that cats and dogs were treated for illnesses.

Holistic or alternative veterinary medicine has a shorter history, gaining popularity only in the past 20 years or so. The American Holistic Veterinary Medical Association counts about 1,000 members, although holistic vets are not required to join.

In Arizona, more than two dozen animal doctors advertise that they employ at least some alternative methods, such as acupuncture, chiropractic, homeopathy or herbal remedies. Most offer advice about nutrition and other aspects of animal care.

For Patterson, the decision to turn his focus to alternative medicine was deeply personal.

He was driving down a New Jersey road 24 years ago when another driver rear-ended his vehicle. He suffered serious injuries.

“I went through Western physical therapy but was not getting any better,” Patterson said.

He underwent acupuncture, chiropractic and other remedies and returned to his work feeling better than he had in years.

“The alternative was what healed me,” he said.

Patterson had studied with a veterinarian who practiced alternative medicine. He decided to train in more depth and begin treating animals with some of the same methods.

He has discovered that many of his clients come to him with the same sort of story, influenced by their own experience with an acupuncturist or an herbalist.

The early days, when a horse owner might ask the acupuncturist to keep his work a secret, seem far behind.

On the day of Patterson’s visit to Sweetwater Stables, proof was hanging in the the breezeway.

There, on a whiteboard labeled “Dr. Tim” with the day’s date, was a list of his patients. O-Dark-Thirty was at the top of the list — followed by five other horses, all referred by Dark’s owner.

Trying natural remedies

As the afternoon wore on, Patterson was ready to see Lexi, the 11-year-old, whose owner, Patty Kriebel, was concerned about soreness from recent activities. This was Lexi’s first session with Patterson, and when he inserted the first acupuncture needle, she raised her head, her eyes widening as she adjusted to what she felt.

Kriebel watched and spoke in soothing tones.

“C’mon Lexi,” she said. “I’ve had this done, and it doesn’t hurt.”

Patterson hooked up the magnetic-pulse machine and positioned a white loop on Lexi’s hip, letting the rhythmic ticking go to work again.

Patterson introduced pulsed therapy after he received the treatment for arthritis in his knee.

“They told me I was going to have to have my knee replaced,” he said. “I used the therapy on my knee, and, before long, the pain was gone and I was back refereeing sports.”

Sue Thompson brought Ruby, her 8-year-old Arabian, to Patterson after the horse had fallen. Thompson, too, was a believer in natural remedies and wasn’t surprised when Ruby appeared to walk and move more easily after the acupuncture and pulsed-therapy session.

She talked with Patterson about the next time he would be available at the stables.

Patterson works part of his time in Payson but travels from Heber to Sedona and across metro Phoenix to see clients.

He said that as animal owners begin to understand his practice and his methods, their calls change.

“They’ll still call when their pets are sick, but we get more now from people saying their animals just don’t seem right, that they’re not themselves,” he said. “And we do wellness visits.”

He hears from some people who know they want their pets treated with natural remedies, but others find their way to Patterson just as he found his way to the treatments after his car accident.

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